Now back on board after a very enjoyable December in Blighty. Our flight home to the UK coincided with a drop in temperature and a cold spell that had us in Taunton Leisure equipping ourselves with hats, scarves, fleeces and boots. It was freezing and all our proper winter clothes were in store in our attic at the house which is let until March. Fortunately I had ordered a new sailing jacket to be delivered to brother in law Rob in Bristol and this became my winter coat. It was lovely catching up with family and friends during the festive season.

Before leaving South Africa I had contacted Ullman Sails to arrange for a new sun protection strip to be sewn onto the genoa. Ullman have a loft in Durban and do a lot of work on boats at the Zululand Yacht Club where we were berthed. When I said I was hiring a car at the Richards Bay airport and could then bring the sail down to them before flying home from Durban they said no, their repair man Clinton had a workshop near the airport and could meet us when we collected the hire car. Perfect! On the day of departure we got a lift to the airport and rang Clinton who suggested we meet at the petrol filling station. We’d been to the airport a couple of times but not noticed a petrol filling station. Don’t worry, said Clinton, he’d meet us at the terminal. We left the sail by the terminal, collected the car, waited by the terminal but no sign of Clinton. Another call and he asked which terminal we were at. Which terminal?! The bit by the car hire. No problem, he would come around. Still no sign. On the next call he asked which floor we were on. Now this was odd because Richards Bay airport terminal is a fairly small single storey building. And then the penny dropped - 

Me “which airport are you at?”

Clinton “King Shaka” (ie Durban)

We eventually met at King Shaka airport that afternoon.

On returning to South Africa on 29th December we picked up the genoa from Clinton at Durban airport and drove back to Richards Bay on a wet, windy evening. All the jobs on Vega had been completed including an engine service and mounting the wind instrument vane of a temporary stainless steel pole on the pushpit to give it some greater height on the passage to Capetown. All we had to do was put up the genoa, put back the lines taken off before we left and food provision. That is until we tried the toilet and it was blocked solid. This time we stripped down all the pipework, took out the bronze control valve assembly and had Jacques soak it all in hydrochloride acid to dissolve away the calcium blockages. All was put back again and La voila, it leaked like a sieve.

Some boats had decided to leave the first weekend we were back. This proved to be too soon for us so we stayed and enjoyed New Years Eve with Pepe and Blanka from Argo and club member Eric, who provides a taxi service for yachties at the marina and is in great demand. The fireworks were spectacular and well worth waiting up for! More yachts left the following day so we settled in for a few days of provisioning, admin and getting ready for the following weekend.

On Thursday 5th January I received the sad news that my father had died. Tenacious for life right to the end he had celebrated his 100th Birthday with family the previous September. At Christmas, however,  he was very sleepy and seemed as if he might finally be letting go. The funeral is on 30th January and I have a flight back from Capetown.

We duly left Richards Bay on Sunday along with Right Choice with Jim and Stephanie on board, who planned an overnight repair stop in Durban. We motorsailed through all the ships at anchor before sailing overnight and through the following day. By the evening of the second day we were running under just the genoa which we progressively reefed as the wind rose to 35kts. After midnight we were running under bare poles at 9kts with a big following sea foaming up from behind. The current was so strong that if the wind and waves pushed the boat off it’s heading we still went in the same direction, but two or three knots slower! Later that morning the wind had died, the clouds had gone and we motored the final six hours into East London, which in a way was a relief because a small low pressure system had developed over East London and the development of these coastal lows can be unpredictable (as in the Mozambique Channel). Fog was the only consequence.

The trip to East London took 46 hours at an average speed, recorded by the Garmin InReach, of 7.7kts! This is way faster than any other passage we have previously undertaken, all thanks to the Aghulas Current.